Probability

by Jim Pitman

This is a text for a one-quarter or one-semester course in probability, aimed at students who have done a year of calculus. The book is organised so a student can learn the fundamental ideas of probability from the first three chapters without reliance on calculus. Later chapters develop these ideas further using calculus tools. The book contains more than the usual number of examples worked out in detail.
The most valuable thing for students to learn from a course like this is how to pick up a probability problem in a new setting and relate it to the standard body of theory. The more they see this happen in class, and the more they do it themselves in exercises, the better. The style of the text is deliberately informal. My experience is that students learn more from intuitive explanations, diagrams, and examples than they do from theorems and proofs. So the emphasis is on problem solving rather than theory.

Genres: Mathematics, Textbooks, Reference, Nonfiction

571 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 1986

Reviews

[William Schram]

As the title suggests this book is about Probability. It shows how to calculate probabilities and how to calculate density functions and other things. I especially like how it explains the symbols to the uninitiated.

[Dylan]

Pitman has a bizarre aversion to calculus, so a lot of times he attempts to do these problems without integration, making things much more challenging. However, the book is a decent reference, very easy to read, and has an array of different problems to try out.

[Linkshander]

Honestly not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. The concepts are well-explained and intuitive but it lacks the depth of newer textbooks. It falls somewhere in between an introduction and an intermediate probability textbook.

[Alex]

pretty messy, just a bunch of exercises really (the exercises are good though)